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78 Cards in this Set

a person inhales approximately 35 pounds of air per day (roughly 6 times more than food and drink consumed)

breathing is continuous and involuntary

air may be polluted both outdoors and indoors

lung disease is the 3rd leading cause of death in the US (~335,000 deaths/yr)

chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD)

a major cause of disability
4th leading cause of death in the US

more than 12 million people are currently diagnosed with COPD

asthma is the most common chronic illness in children (leading cause of hospital admissions of children)

lungs are used to exchange gasses

inhaling oxygen

exhaling carbon dioxide

the asthma epidemic exists particularly in...

urban areas

examples of catastrophic air pollution

London (1911) - 1150 died form the effects of coal smoke (first time the mix of smoke and fog over london was called smog)

London (1952) - 4000 died from smog

Donora, PA (1948) - 20 died and 6000 were ill from smog from the community's steel mill, zinc smelter, and sulfuric acid plant

NYC (1963) - 300 people died from air pollution

cost of air pollution (annual 1999 EPA report to congress)

total cost - 71 billion
health - 68 billion (morbidity/mortality)
worker productivity - 460 million
agriculture - 45 million (many food products are more expensive to compensate for the cost of the crops lost due to air pollution)

"all identifiable effects" are to be reviewed (the EPA is not free to define as adverse only those effects that are clearly harmful and about which there is medical consensus)

"adequate margin of safety" (the protect against effects that have not yet been uncovered by research, and effects whose medical significance is a matter of controversy and to be set low enough to protect the health of all susceptible groups within the population)

scientific literature is the key to identification of adverse health effects

EPA must assess the potential that symptomatic effects are indicators of their more serious health effects

at the margin where effects are often subtle and reasonable scientists disagree about their importance, the EPA administrator must ultimately judge which effects should be regarded as "adverse" for standard-setting purposes

rate at which air is replaced in the structure by external air - average from the american home is .7 to 1.0 changes per hour, tightly sealed homes without provisions for and exchange have ~0.2 air changes/hr

more than 1/2 of the world's population relies on dung, wood, crop waste, or coal to meet their most basic energy needs

cooking and heating with such solid fuels on open fired or stoves without chimneys leads to indoor air pollution

this indoor smoke contains a range of health-damaging pollutants including small soot or dust particles that are able to penetrate deep into the lungs

exposure is particularly high among women and children who spend most of their time near their domestic hearth

air pollution is responsible for one death every 20 seconds

indoor smoke contains a variety of health-damaging pollutants

particles (complex mixtures of chemicals in solid form droplets)

carbon monoxide

nitrous oxide

sulfur oxides (mainly from coal)

formaldehyde

carcinogens (chemical substances known to increase the risk of cancer)

determinants of exposure to indoor air pollution

the concentrations of pollutants in the indoor environment (mainly determined by the type of fuel and stove used, and the kitchen location)

the time that individuals spend in polluted environments

disease issues

pneumonia and other acute lower respiratory infections - globally they represent the single most important cause of death in children under 5 years (exposure to indoor air pollution more than doubles one's risk)

COPD - women exposed to indoor smoke are three times more likely to have COPD, the risk for men is doubled

with the onset of the energy crisis in the 1970s, buildigns in advanced countries were constructed to be energy efficient with less air exchange between the indoor air and the outdoor air. with this energy-efficient mindset, among the problems that arose in building were:

retention of higher temperatures

higher humidity levels

decreased ventilation

increased odor retention

building related illness

discrete, identifiable disease or illness
can be traced to a specific pollutant or sources within a building
cough, chest tightness, fever chills, muscle aches or more serious outcomes
legionaries disease, hypersensitivity pneumonitis, humidifier fever

sick building syndrome (SBS)

set of symptoms associated with time spent in building (respiratory tract irritation, skin irritation, headache, dizziness, nausea, fatigue, concentration problems)

symptoms diminish or cease when occupants leave the building

>20% of occupants report SBS

cannot be traced to specific pollutants or sources within the building

regulatory jurisdictions

outdoor air - EPA, clean air act

occupational air - OSHA

indoor air (apart from occupational air) - no specific federal laws, state and local jurisdictions regulate air quality in PUBLIC BUILDINGS (limit use of products that effect air quality, ventilation and air exchange standard rates, controlling activities)